Today's News

The fire that has burned about 26,000 acres near Raton damaged a block gas valve, forcing Las Vegas’ natural gas supplier to shut down the pipeline that services the city Wednesday afternoon.

But the repairs were completed that same night, and as of late Thursday morning Zia Natural Gas was working to get all the air out of the line so that it could repressurize it, Las Vegas Mayor Alfonso Ortiz said. The line was slated to be reopened by the end of the day on Thursday.

Sheryl McNellis-Martinez will remain in her post as interim superintendent of the Las Vegas City Schools district through June 2012.

She will be paid $100,000 a year for serving in that position under the terms of the contract approved by the school board Tuesday evening.

McNellis-Martinez, who previously served as the district’s special services director, was named interim superintendent in December. The school district has not had a permanent top official since the abrupt resignation of former superintendent Rick Romero late last year.

The cloudless sky and near-90 degree temperature near noon on Tuesday did not keep the more than 30 senior citizens from launching their yearly tradition to pray for a special intention. They paraded statues of their favorite saints, prayed and sang for rain.

A proposal to begin the first phase of extending a city water line to Airport Road ran into trouble again Wednesday night with one city councilor saying the process used “stinks” and another charging that the extension being proposed would benefit people illegally tapped into the city water system.

Indeed Councilwoman Tonita Gurule-Giron also pointed out that the mayor’s nephew lives in the subdivision in question and that his daughter had once owned property there.

Some residents near the New Mexico-Colorado border were able to return home Wednesday and a national park on the opposite end of the state reopened just before dusk after crews worked feverishly throughout the day to get a jump on two growing wildfires ahead of worsening weather.

Interstate 25 has reopened between New Mexico and Colorado after being closed for four days. because of the wilfire near Raton.

That's the conclusion of an audit presented to lawmakers on Wednesday.

The audit from the State Legislative Finance Committee recommends that the Protective Services Division of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department shift some supervisors into front-line caseworker positions.